diatu | All forests are magic.

All forests are magic.

Who: Jude and YOU
Where: Various
When: backdated to sometime in late August
What: unorthodox gardening and party games, not at the same time
Warnings: underage drinking

SRS PROMPT

Somewhere within the Magicademy grounds, under a tree that looks like it’s on fire, there sits a Jude. Her familiar, Silverfrost, is lounging lazily among the top branches.

She’s concentrating, wand in hand. After a minute, she will start drawing sigils in the air, along with the requisite incantations. Nothing happens for a while -- almost too long a time. Then, suddenly, the red leaves shiver, even though there is no wind on this fine evening. Little by little, the tree begins to...morph -- or rather, grow, specific branches sprouting forth and intertwining with a specific purpose.

It’s the silhouette of a person, though it’s abstract enough to require some interpretation. Still, if you look at it from a certain angle, it’s possible to make out a torso, an arm, an elegant hand resting against the curve of a cheek. The facial features are mere suggestions, but a wreath of leaves winds itself around the sculpture’s head, like a coronet made of rust-stained gold.

Silverfrost gives a soft trill, disturbed from his nap by the movement of branches, and makes his way down to the ground. Which is also the exact moment Jude looks up from her work, her eyes meeting that of her observer. Judging by the sharp look she gives them, she was not expecting company. ~~Judging by the faint flush on her face, she may be... embarrassed?~~

“...yes?”

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NOT VERY SRS PROMPT

How does Jude end up at these parties? Who knows. More importantly, who cares. She certainly doesn’t, which may be attributable to the fact that she is, for once in her life, quite drunk.

Quite. Drunk.

It also appears as if someone has somehow obtained (stolen? bought? faked?) one of those Intimation Crystals the Sundering Researchers were using for that experiment some time ago. Or at least a device very much like it. The point is, it will light up if you lie, so you shouldn’t lie¹.

Why would this be important? Because currently, the crystal is in Jude’s hand. She sets down her goblet, faces the loose circle of people spread across the room, and pronounces:

“Never have I ever cheated on a test.”

Time to drink up.
_____
^{1. Disclaimer: Crystal may not be a genuine article, approved or tested by magicians who knew what they are doing. Device may require a licensed operator. Improper use may result in false positive readings, ruined nights, drunken fisticuffs, the uncontrollable need to sneeze, stubbed toes, bad hair, and/or death. Please enjoy responsibly.}

[[OOC: So as may be obvious, this is a game of Never Have I Ever! If anyone wants to threadhop around on this prompt and react to other people’s answers/questions, please do! The more ~~chaotic~~ the merrier :>b]]

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Isabel's brows flew up, even as her own familiar trots over to touch noses with the other cat, ears and whiskers held forward in friendly fashion. Sometimes, Chaos is far more the statesman than his mistress. This is one of those times.

"Um, really I just thought something was in the tree. I did see you there, but..." Flustered and put on the spot! She can't help but babble, but she tries, but then gives up and shrugs.

"Didn't mean anything by it, honest. Though you've sure got skill!" Luckily Isabel's not the type to give a hollow compliment.

She exhales, and a little of the tension leaves her face (if not her body). Instead, she frowns upwards at the tree sculpture/growth, looking half-sheepish, half-put off, like someone who's been caught doing something inappropriate.

"It's just practice. I got bored." Why is she explaining herself? Why is she sounding so defensive? She's immediately annoyed at herself, especially upon realizing that her familiar apparently has no problem at all with strolling up to curious stranger(s' cats) and exchanging greetings.

With another sigh, Jude picks herself off the ground and motions at the (presumable) something in the tree. "That's Silverfrost."

Isabel can't see anything wrong about it. It's nice, and there's a degree of skill she couldn't achieve in it. (Contrary to popular belief, Isabel is not good at everything; her artistic skills are a bit lacking in execution--save for 'fashion sense' and music.)

"It makes perfect, as they say." Isabel shrugs at that, then. She's no stranger to driving herself hard when the situation merits it, so she's not going to judge. Sure, she notices the defensiveness, but she's not going to call the other girl on it--there but for the grace goes she, after all.

"Oh, how handsome!--the big oaf sniffing at your familiar is Chaos." Who turns and gives Isabel a reproachful look from copper eyes. "Oh please, you're nearly as big as a German shepherd, and I know that's typical for your kind, but if the shoe fits!" Yeah, she'll make him wear it.

She watches the interaction with some interest -- her and Silverfrost rarely communicate quite like that. He seems to enjoy her company, and he's been helpful more than once, but banter isn't really in her repertoire.

Either way, she's grateful for a topic that doesn't touch on weird tree sculptures which may or may not be molded after the likeness of people she knows.

"Chaos? That's an interesting name."

"Well, it's one that fits. He certainly can be, if given the opportunity." Meanwhile, Chaos is doing the very feline thing of pretending he's too dignified for all of this, and has seated himself to bathe a paw and then wash his face.

"He's the first cat I've known to decide I'm his person, though. I try to respect him as much as I can, but sometimes I just have to tug his tail. Figuratively, not literally. I've been taught that's not a thing you do to cats." More by a cat in her youth, too. Her grandfather was very fond of cats and had a whole herd of them in his lab.

"Your familiar is very handsome, though. Handsome? Is he a he?" Silverfrost was about on Chaos' scale, considering they were both clearly Maine Coons, but even the ladies could grow up to be large and in charge, and Isabel didn't want to offend.

"He is." She pauses, a bit awkwardly, before adding, "Thank you."

"I didn't have a familiar before this, either. It's not very common, where I'm from." She can only really think of Val Moren, the Court Poet, and his giant raven.

"It's... nice, though. Having someone you can trust."

Is Silver preening? He might be preening, his bushy tail curled over his paws as he sits there, with his eyes half-closed.

Isabel...is trying very hard not to laugh at Silverfrost. Yes, she'd agree he was preening--or looking smug at the very least! She balls her hand into a fist and presses it against her mouth, glancing over at the other girl.

Chaos, for his part, finishes his impromptu bath, and then goes over and gives Jade a headbutt in the leg. It's not terribly aggressive for his size, but she'll definitely feel it, because if nothing else, Chaos has a presence. But that sobers up Isabel.

"Ooh, he approves, he doesn't do that to that many people!" And then, as she shakes her head. "Sorry, I'm being rude. I'm Isabel Knight."

"Jude Duarte." She bows -- it's hard to tell, here, who's old-fashioned and who isn't, so she defaults to the Anastara standard. "It's nice to meet you."

The familiar at her side gets a slightly bewildered stare. Having never actually had pets of any kind, she's not entirely sure how to react. Sure, Silver likes to be petted now and then, but she has no idea whether that extends to other cats.

After a minute's thought, she decides to crouch down and extend a hand for him to... sniff? Maybe? "...hello."

Silverfrost observes the entire scene, his tail tip twitching.

"Are you from Anastara?" It might seem like she's asking Chaos, until she glances at Isabel.

Isabel shakes her head, then. "I'm from Earth...sort of, by way of a nexus-world. My dad was born on Earth, we still go back there sometimes."

Chaos just blinks a moment after sniffing Jude's hand, before he leans in to give it a rub. Not quite marking her, but he's easygoing and affectionate--if Silverfrost acts offended, he'll cheerfully back off--and flop in submission, because he has his own human girl, thank you!

That answer makes her perk up, her fingers still curled under Chaos's chin -- it's the first time she's heard someone mention something similar to her own circumstances. Her glance at Isabel is more searching this time, but her conversation partner looks human as far as Jude can tell. Not that this necessarily means anything.

Jude is human too, after all.

"What's a nexus world?"

"It's a place where many worlds join, basically. My dad found a portal drag racing his car with his best friend's car--his best friend is my cousin Stephen." Isabel chuckled at that, a little.

"So I mean, I lived on Earth for a bit, usually during the summers, and then during the fall and the rest of the time I lived...elsewhere. I think part of that was my parents hoping if I spent more time on Earth than my mother had, I wouldn't have the problems she did..." Isabel shrugged at that, then. "So far, it seems to have worked...then again, I don't think I'm as powerful as my mother is, either. Not that I mind that!"

That's a lot to take in. She concludes a couple things from this, though: one, Isabel's world probably isn't the same as hers after all. Secondly--

"You're not human, then?"

If there is a way to ask that question tactfully, she's not sure of it.

"Not human? No, no! I'm human! I just know magic on my world too--uh, they call it Awakening, at least for my type of mage."

Not really something she should probably be talking about, but Isabel figures, at least, that it's not something universal--maybe multiversal either, really. They get pulled from so many places, after all.

"Why, aren't you? I mean, you look human enough, but looks can sure be deceiving." Isabel couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"I'm human," Jude confirms. Looks can be deceiving, but it seems doubtful that anyone would want or need to make themselves look human in a world like this.

"It's just that humans don't commonly practice magic or travel across worlds, where I'm from."

"It's a little more common where I'm from, promise. Though there's really not that many of us." Then again, Isabel's family kind of was a congregation of them. That was decidedly not common for most mages, in fact.

Not that Isabel was about to comment on that fact.

"So what is common for humans, where you're from?" Curiosity killed the cat, after all.

"Being common, mostly." Her tone is wry, bordering on the edge of dismissive. "Unaware of how much magic dwells among and beside them."

"Sounds like Earth, really. And most of the humans from there," Isabel admitted. Which might have been the point, really.

"Then again, I try to be the type to see farther than the end of my nose--even before I Awakened as a mage. Back there. Here, well. Kind of no choice, you know? This place is steeped in it!" She laughed at that. "Have you found that to be so?"

Isabel sort of hoped so.

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All forests are magic.

srs prompt is srs

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